I used to like McCain: war veteran and POW; has actual combat experience unlike Bush, Cheney who sent other people to war — and to their deaths. 8 years ago, I wish McCain was the nominee and even the president.
But not after reading McCain’s recent comments. An excerpt from the nytimes article:
In the clearest indication yet of how he intends to confront Senator Barack Obama on foreign policy issues in the general election, Senator John McCain on Friday again portrayed the Democratic contender as being the favorite of Hamas, the militant Palestinian group, and implied that he would also be friendly with Iran, a Hamas ally.
That’s below the belt and may be a sign of desperation: this reminds me of Bush’s “wolf ad” during the 2004 election. It is possible that Obama may be the ‘favorite’ (whatever that means) of Osama Bin Laden but that doesn’t mean Obama will be friendly with Al Queda. One cannot go through life making new enemies and going to war with all of them. Nuking Iran is not the answer. Georges Santayana said “Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it.” Haven’t we learnt anything from the Iraq debacle?
I hope McCain and Obama (or Clinton) run a clean campaign and win the election the old-fashioned way — earn it!
Contrary to news reports, rumors are that the McCain-Obama campaign will be ugly. George Soros has setup a $40 million fund raiser to setup 527 groups to launch dirty attacks on McCain. The key issues will be his age, his Keating trouble, his 100-year Iraq policy, his flip-flop on Bush tax cuts and his anger management problems. They will paint him as a old senile man who is not fit to be a commander-in-chief.
On the other hand, Republicans will paint Obama as this “mystery” candidate about whom no one really knows anything and that beneath the layers, he is simply a left wing elitist liberal who will raise taxes, expand government, run up deficits further and facilitate the far-left policies of Pelosi, Kennedy, Kerry, Reid, talk to Ahmed-in-his Jammies, etc.
I personally do not agree with a multitude of Obama’s policies (the ones he has grudgingly talked about). However, his undoing in the fall might be simply that Americans will not elect a black liberal for President. His vote bank has been youth, far left liberals and blacks, from state to state to state. He did successfully get them to vote. However he has failed to win over the rural voters and blue collar voters in the Democratic ranks. In the general election, rural voters (Dems and Republicans) will go fot McCain across the board. The blue collar Reagan Democrats could go McCain’s way, especially in Ohio, PA, Missouri, Indiana, etc. And there are a few states that Obama cannot win (my prediction); Virginia, NC, SC, Georgia, Alabama, MS, Texas, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, TN, KY, OK. Even Florida is unclear as Jews seem to favor McCain (Obama has said pro Palestinian things); NW Florida is Republican. So, from an electoral college map perspective, it is an uphill battle, especially if many Hillary supporters cross over and vote for McCain. Obama cannot rely on just the liberals in east coast and west coast to win. Also, the black vote (>90% everywhere) helped him in the primaries. But in general, black vote does not count for that much, especially in the South.
For Obama to win, he has to show that he can go beyond his base of blacks, liberals and youth and he has to show that he can win in non-urban areas.
You are right. The reality is that there will be lot of negative ads from both campaigns. Obama indirectly hinted at the age issue by saying “that McCain is losing his bearings”.
You write well. You should have a blog.